Esf Dynamic Gameplay

[TestingTheGoods]

:warning:First Watch this

Make sure to take note of the map Terrain, and the HUD Display.

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<a href="http://www.moddb.com/mods/earths-special-forces/videos/burning-sky">Earths Special Forces Mod for Half-Life Burning Sky video - Mod DB</a>

ESF Dynamic Gameplay:

Goal: to evolve ESF's gameplay for the better and make use of the ESF's terrain.

Looks, like ESF's graphics have upgraded nicely, and hopefully it can pull off an upgrade equal to its' graphics if not better, but for gameplay.

Here is how it "could" be done in my opinion. First of all, do you remember looking at the HUD display in the video? Remember the Large Red Curve?

My suggestion is to greatly, GREATLY improve gameplay,by turning that into a "Flight Meter".(Before you start flaming, just stop and think about it.)

I'd like to see ESF take advantage of all those new maps/terrains. If ESF sticks with the air only mentality then all those new maps, would just be different size boxes that players fly around in. Practically the same feel for every map. A huge space or a crowded one, this would be the only variation between maps that players would experience.

In my opinion, ESF should consider bringing the fight down to the ground / air. That's right, 50/50. I want to see a fight constantly switch between the air and ground. Allowing players to make use of that terrain thats Unique to every map. I want to see players perform special attacks that don't slow down gameplay but add to it. I want to see ESF's gameplay become more dynamic, MORE free, and less limited.

So, how could this be possible? Well I have some good ideas bouncing around in my head and maybe this thread could act as means to perfect the ideas into to something great, or even create a better idea.

So now that you know the basic concept that I'm trying to achieve, here are some fundamental gameplay changes that could achieve it.



Flight Meter: This Red Boomerang-like Bar controls how long you're able to fly. The time for being able to fly is short enough so that if you started on the ground, and attempted to fly into the clouds the meter would hit zero before reaching the clouds.

You're character would then lose momentum before falling at a free fall speed, unless he or she begins to charge/fire a beam attack 1 to 2 seconds after the meter hit 0. If the player cancels a charging beam or stops firing beam attacks and attempts to charge or fire it again, the second or any attempt after that will not work until the player has hit the ground.


The Flight Meter directly correlates with the stamina meter. Full stamina = Full Flight meter capacity, Half-Stamina = Half of your flight meter's capacity, etc. Stamina doesn't effect the rate in which your flight meter drains tho, just the capacity.

Also, players may only begin their flight when the flight meter is filled 90% of its current capacity. So if you're knocked out of flight, you must use the ground until your flight meter if full.

If a player on the ground hits a player in flight, not only will they be knocked out of flight, but they'll take extra damage to their stamina.

Note: Tired players will end up using the ground more frequently. This doesn't mean they're more vulnerable tho.

The meter recharges fairly quickly, so that the gameplay isn't air based or ground based, but a balanced mix of both.


Another option players can use during their flight, is to perform a jump(This new jump is described below). This new jump can only be performed once per flight, because it actually cancels your flight so if used you have to land on the ground and wait for your flight meter before taking off again.

New Changes for Jumping:
Jumping would no longer be the slow and drawn out high arching leap. It would now be the main acrobatic movement while on the ground. Pressing jump while holding forward would cause you to teleport a very very short distance before reappearing in the direction you're traveling(It would look as if you quickly jumped off the ground).After you're reappearance you'd continue moving with your momentum in a fluid motion without any stops or delays. Since the forward direction was pressed your player would travel in direction of your mouse. If a different direction was press(Back,Left,Right,up=not optional) then your character would travel in that direction.


This would be commonly used to quickly jump back to the ground after a flight if the player is a high up in the air. Yet, some players could find this a useful move to attack someone while in the air.

Note: Each kiblasts and gen ball give you small but a noticeable push backwards each time they're shot. This applies when on the ground as well.


New Changes for Teleports:

Teleport would be only possible during counter-attacks.



New Changes for Basic Melee:

In ESF 1.2 Basic melee was a great success, but didn't appeal to the less "Hardcore" ESF players. From interviewing many players, they didn't like it because they only saw it as spamming a "ram" move over and over. The idea I'm suggesting will give the melee some depth so all players can see it as an "actual melee".(This is just a rough idea of how it could work, suggestions are always welcome)

The new basic melee is no longer just a push back maneuver(although there are situations where it will be this way), its now an accuracy based melee system that doesn't lock players in a bubble, but allows free\slightly limited movement, beam attacks, and players of all skill levels would definitely feel the pressure/intensity of a fight.

Melee Design:

Accuracy: Accuracy now contributes to melee game play, making it difficult to dominate any player without giving him/her opportunities to return some damage or completely change the pace of a fight.

What happens after a player engages another player in basic melee, depends on which area of the enemy's hit box that you've hit.

Hitboxes are now divided into regions(specifically 3 to 5) just like a bullzeye:
http://bullzeyewsr.com/images/logo.jpg

The center bullzeye is the smallest and hardest to hit, and would be located at the stomach of each player model.

If player manages to hit this sweet spot he/she will perform 1 of 4 different specials depend which side they hit you from (front, back,left, right)

dogs gotta pee..



I'll add more later if I can. (gonna require examples)

 

[Disguise]

Yeah it would be cool to encourage a ground combat. I don't think limiting flying is the way to do it necessarily. You just need to make combat different on the ground than in the air.

You mentioned changing some buttons around. I had an idea in another forum where Shift + Direction would be like a quick juke in that direction. In the air, it responds slower, but on the ground, it would respond really fast. That way fights on the ground would be fast-paced, and if someone were in the air trying to attack you, you'd be too quick for them to hit.

When players run out of stamina and are knocked onto the ground, they'd stand a better chance at evading and surviving in this way, and it would encourage the other player to either use a finisher, or to engage them there.

So essentially, in some style or form, ground combat should be sped up, and air combat should be slowed down slightly. That's what I think anyway.

Ground combat should be for people who really like to melee for awhile, as stamina could be knocked down less, and there would be fewer openings for ki attacks. Air combat would be for melee & ki attacks where players liked to create openings to use finishers.

That way you'd have the best of both in a single game... ideally. You'd have to tweak several things to make this work out right. Unless it was unanimously agreed on, it would never really happen I think.

If they made Swoop delay in the air, but initiate immediately on the ground, that would be a start in the right direction. This would require differentiating between Flying and Non-Flying in programming, and who knows if that's possible. If it's not, then there's really slim to none that this would work. If it is, then hell, lets start thinking more about this here.

 

[sub]

Jinx, is that you? Regardless, I have a few things to say.

You're essentially forcing a player to fight on the ground by turning off their ability to fly - This is a no, it's just going to piss people off. If you want people to fight on the ground, maybe try to think of some incentives encouraging people to fight on the ground. If it isn't forced on the player, it'll be better recieved by the community.

With that being said, I don't think ground fights will ever work out in esf.

 

[Daven Sodan]

I also dont think ground combat will happen in esf by forcing the players to do so... thats just frustrating and people would think "hey, in all the versions before, I never was constrained to the ground... why now? This sucks.." and exit the game.

I too think that the terrain somehow should benefit the gameplay, but not in a drastical way like u presented.

 

[Dokutayuu]

Perhaps increasing run speed or jump length would be better. As said above, forcing people to stop flying is not a good idea. Making being on the ground more beneficial may be.

 

[Barack Obama]

Your well thought out and superbly formatted suggestions are always welcome around these parts.

 

[TestingTheGoods]

Your well thought out and superbly formatted suggestions are always welcome around these parts.

Thanks..

Updating...

 

[Snowm@n]

Ground combat is a complicated issue. I would like it to be more frequent but a flight metter is not the answer. In order for people to make ground combat they would have to get some advantages to the people flying. Just think: "I am making a combat in the air why would I go to the ground to get some advantage above my enemy??" That's what would have to be figured out. (for example - aura when running costs much less KI, fast horizontal jumps (that would have to be made), when hit by a beam or making beam PS the guy in the ground would get some advantage...i dont know........stuff like that imo.

 

[Sonlex]

The DBZ choices for either ground or flight was often based on the characters, - goku seemed to choose ground over air against enemies basically cause enemies like frieza had an easier maneuverability, due to more speed, in air.

Bottom line, i fully agree with the idea of more encouragement for ground combat by the means of benefits, rather than by the means of forcing them down there, this could also be encouraged by making maps with more ground coverage, like cliffs, hindering people from constantly beamspamming on the ground due to less space, attacks that are deadly, things like final flash, anything of that caliber, would also be way less encouraged on ground vs ground, if you constantly hit a rock and blast yourself to smithereeeens in the lack of space.